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SPAR vs. WBC: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Automotive - Original Equipment stocks are likely familiar with Spartan Motors and Wabco Holdings . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Spartan Motors has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Wabco Holdings has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that SPAR is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

SPAR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.96, while WBC has a forward P/E of 20.42. We also note that SPAR has a PEG ratio of 0.86. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. WBC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.36.

Another notable valuation metric for SPAR is its P/B ratio of 2.59. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, WBC has a P/B of 4.83.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to SPAR's Value grade of A and WBC's Value grade of F.

SPAR is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that SPAR is likely the superior value option right now.

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